Mozambican rebels ambush train

Press, 4 January 1988, Page 6

Mozambican rebels ambush train

NZPA-AP Maputo The Right-wing Mozambican resistance has ambushed a train near the South African border, killing at least 22 people and injuring 71 others. A rebel spokesman said the raid had probably been carried out as part of the rebels’ strategy of isolating the capital. The train was headed east towards Maputo and carrying about 1500 people when it hit a land mine, the national news agency, AIM, reported. Five railroad cars were derailed. Guerrillas of the Mozambican National Resistance (RENAMO) looted the train and abducted several passengers, most

of whom escaped, AIM said.

The train was about 40km from the South African border when the attack occurred. Many of the passengers were Mozambicans who had been working in South Africa.

It took rescuers several hours to arrive, and some of the injured were not removed from the wreckage until Friday, the report said. Eleven of the injured remained in critical condition in a Maputo hospital. In Lisbon, Portugal, a rebel spokesman said it was highly likely that the ambush had been carried out by RENAMO, but that he had not yet

received confirmation from rebel sources in Mozambique. “It is a key aim of our military strategy to cut off Maputo as much as possible from the rest of the country,” the spokesman, who asked not to be identified, told the Associated Press. RENAMO has been waging a hit-and-run insurgency for 10 years in a bid to overthrow Mozambique’s Marxist Government. It has seriously disrupted the economy and caused extensive damage to civilian targets, particularly in rural areas. No country publicly admits supporting the rebels, but the Government says they get support from South Africa.